The Choices They Made
by Eternity In Seconds
Summary: A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Hidden, Sleep, Confessions, Garden, Sadness, Quiet, Melt, Storm, Fight, Legend, Touch, Frozen, Candles, Dynamic, Treasure. Switch. Vague. Pieces. Shiver. Ripples. Disaster. Sea. Reconciliation. Blaze. Flash. Electric. Day 28: Soulmate. COMPLETE
1. Hidden

**Zutara Month  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 49_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies… Things start off small, but let it be known: drabbles get bigger the further in you read! **Chapter 10 is 1,000 words!**  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**I  
****Hidden****  
~ Zuko ~**

When he was in front of the court, he hid behind a crown; when he was around his people he hid behind a scar; when he was with his sister, he hid behind strength. When he was with Katara, he wished that he didn't have to hide his feelings.

* * *

Authors Note:

Read & Review,

- EIS


	2. Sleep

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 42_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**II  
****Sleep****  
~ Katara ~**

She had dreamed that they could overcome their differences and find a way to be together at the war's end. In reality, the only place she could be with Zuko was in her sleep, where dreams became the only thing she knew.


	3. Confession

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 47_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confession  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**III  
****Confession****  
~ Zuko ~**

"I thought you loved me!" she shouted at him after he announced his engagement. "I thought you loved me as much as I love you!" It was the first time he had ever heard Katara say those words and they both knew that it was too late.


	4. Garden

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 50_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confession. Day 4: Garden.  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**IV  
****Garden****  
~ Katara ~**

It was beautiful, with gold, red, pink and purple roses and fire lilies, reaching up as high as her hip. She cradled an armful in the crook of her elbows while he watched her with riveted, adoring eyes as she stood in his mother's garden, wearing his mark around her neck.


	5. Sadness

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words: **52_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness.  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**V  
****Sadness****  
****~ Zuko ~**

"There is no pretending," he said with absolute clarity. "I love you, and I will love you until I die, and if there is life after that, I'll love you then."

His words were supposed to bring comfort to them both, but instead they brought inexplicable sadness for what could have been.


	6. Quiet

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 90_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**VI  
****Quiet****  
~ Katara ~**

She was quiet through breakfast and for the rest of the day. She wanted him to speak first. She didn't want to talk about her own nightmare, but she didn't want to ask about his.

It was when Aang kissed her on the cheek and whispered good morning, when her eyes inexplicably rose up to meet his, when she saw the golden hate, did she realise that her nightmare had been real and that she had ruined whatever chance _they_ had. All to keep the Saviour of the World happy.


	7. Melt

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 57_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**VII  
****Melt****  
~ Zuko ~**

Winter thawed into spring; spring melted into summer. The seasons continued to pass after the war, the world continued to turn, changing from one moment to the next as peace became stronger, tangible, and his people became stronger, accepting. But the one thing that didn't change was the way his heart melted when he saw Katara smile.


	8. Storm

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 41_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight...  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**VIII  
****Storm****  
~ Katara ~**

"Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals: we would storm heaven itself in our folly."

She hadn't understood what her Gran Gran had meant until she realised that she would do anything if it meant staying with him forever.


	9. Fight

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 22_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**IX  
****Fight****  
~ Zuko ~**

They wanted the freedom to love. They wanted the freedom to choose. Now they had to fight for the love they chose.


	10. Legend

******Zutara Month****  
****  
****Author:** Eternity in Seconds**  
****Rating:** T**  
****Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama**  
****Pairings:** Zutara**  
****Words:** 1000**_  
_********Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies… Now, I have an announcement - I rewrote this one, thus the delays. I had a bigger, better idea, and decided to publish it. It's exactly a thousand words (in honour of the tenth day). Hope you enjoy!**  
****Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**X  
****Legend****  
~ Katara ~**

Azula's mad laughter fills the air and Zuko is on the ground _so far away_… The tingling feeling in the air that announces lightning begins, and she turns away from his dying form to look at her; the bitch that caused this.

Azula will pay.

Pay for what she has created. Pay for what she has done to Zuko. Pay for what she has taken. Pay for the lives she has destroyed. Pay for the pain she's caused her friends. Pay because Katara cannot do this without him. Never. Pay because she's trying to take him from her.

* * *

Strange, the way the heart turns against its owner. It can fight and storm wildly, wringing pain from itself, hurting with misery and regret. And the logical mind is pushed aside, unable to soothe or placate the burning sadness.

Katara liked to think of herself as a logical person. Cool, smooth and in control. She was out of control during the Battle with her mother's killer and she hated that, the overwhelming feeling of helplessness, of being pathetically unable to change her fate. When the Battle was over she vowed to take control.

The day after Aang proposed in Republic City, she felt like she was losing control. Katara had routines. Half a year in the South, half in the north, visits in between. Aang was routine. Conversation was routine. Marriage? Not routine.

As she walked briskly through the park, a wind picked up and she found himself smiling as her hair was whipped back in the wind. With her head down against the wind, she ran straight into somebody.

"Sorry," Katara said automatically. The person didn't reply, didn't keep walking, and she glanced up.

"Katara."

Unruly and wind whipped locks, golden eyes.

"Zuko? What are you doing here?"

Zuko laughed. "It's a city, Katara. There are thousands of people here. I'm just one more. And I built the place."

"Have you been hitting the Fire Whiskey?" Katara snapped, drawing her coat around herself to ward off the chilly wind. Autumn leaves played around her legs. Autumn. Air benders.

"No. I've been here on State business.".

"Good for you."

"I thought so," Zuko said. "I'm going to travel the world."

"Again?"

"Yeah. This time, though, I'll be a free man. I'll be doing good."

She hadn't seen him in nearly seven years, but he was still… Zuko.

"I'll let you continue on your way," Zuko said as though they hadn't lost contact years ago. Katara just scowled at him. Zuko grinned mischievously and removed his bright red scarf, looping it around her neck.

"Much better," he grinned. "You looked like you were dressed for a funeral before."

She freed her face and had a retort on her lips, but Zuko had vanished.

* * *

She runs into him again, a year after marrying Aang, at a Peace Delegation.

She's hyperventilating – _pregnant, pregnant, I'm twenty-six; I don't want this, not yet…_) – and he appears.

Minutes pass and just when she's had enough silence, Zuko speaks: "Are you in love with him?"

"What?"

"I was in there for Aang's announcement and I find you here, looking like this… just humour me. Please."

Honesty is foreign… but she could always be honest with Zuko. "Whenever I see him I always feel…muddled. Like I have no idea what to do, say, or act. And then I always get myself into trouble."

She sees his reflection in the glass when he responds. "That's how you know that those are the ones worth going after. It might not work out the way you want it to, but at least you won't spend the rest of your life wondering 'what if'. That, sweetie, is a truly terrible feeling."

"Happy birthday, Katara."

With that he disappeared. Katara finds her hand reaching out by itself to catch a corner of Zuko's robes.

* * *

Three children: Kya, Bumi and Tenzin, the youngest. She gave complete control to Aang on that one.

When they were young she gave them attention, and love, when they were teenagers she gave them lectures and acceptance. She watched them all grow up and move away. She was mother, best friend and counsellor. She loved them all. But Aang didn't love Kya and Bumi like she did.

* * *

Katara decided that sixty years was enough time.

"I'm wondering if I could get in contact with Lord Zuko."

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"No." Katara wondered why Honora was so angry. There was another long silence.

"My father died a year ago. I'm sure you'll remember, it was all over _Republic Times_ for months."

_Dead. I didn't know… how did I not know_? Katara closed her eyes.

* * *

After the funeral, Katara's family came to clean out the hut. Jinora and Ikki bickered over this and that, pulling faces over various items.

"Why is everything so blue?" Bumi muttered.

"Blue is the colour of the water tribes, Bumi. Put them in the donation bag," Tenzin said.

"I wonder how the bending's going," someone remarked. "I hope the Ferrets are winning. Someone should've brought a radio; we could've listened to the match -"

"Enough," Kya said. She understood that this was their way of coping. It still hurt.

Kya folded up the bedcovers, picking up the pillows and -

She paused.

"What is it?" Jinora asked.

Kya picked up the item from under her mother's pillow, holding it up with puzzlement.

"A red scarf."

"Oh, more clothes," Bumi said, grabbing the scarf from her and throwing it into the charity bag. "That's the last of it then."

They leave. Kya lingers.

As she passed the open door, she paused by the charity bag before hesitantly picking up the red scarf and stuffing it deep in her pocket. It was something deeply private, something personal… something important.

And for a moment her heart twisted in her chest, the scarf still heady with the scent of cologne, and a woman packed up her mother's personal effects and found a tragic story of love and loss. A legend.**  
**


	11. Touch

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 78_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies… Drabbles are now going to be LONGER! Yippee!  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XI  
****Touch****  
~ Zuko ~**

He closed his eyes and breathed. The smell of stale lightning still hung heavy in the air, but he could make out the musky smell of smoke and fire underneath it. She smelled of furs and sweat and damp ash…not a pleasant scent. But his new scar was strangely smooth under her touch, and he had never wanted to touch someone as much as he wanted to touch Katara.

He wondered if her lips would taste like death.


	12. Frozen

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 110_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen  
**Authors Note:** I had fun writing this one, and I'll admit, it was actually difficult to find a concept that wasn't a cliché or over-done. I think I had success, however. What do you think? All the drabbles are longer from here out, 100+ words!  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XII  
****Frozen****  
~ Katara ~**

In a sense, words are encyclopedias of ignorance because they freeze perceptions at one moment in history and then insist that people continue to use these frozen perceptions when they should be doing better.

For her, fire had always equaled death and destruction and ruin and chaos and enemy, when in reality it was so much more: heat and life and sunlight and warmth and love and passion. It was Zuko.

Love was like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, hearts mature and love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.


	13. Candles

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 137_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles.  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies… Happier, less angsty Zutara moments to come!  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XIII  
****Candles****  
~ Zuko ~**

"You're the brightest thing I've ever seen, Katara. You're this beautiful ball of fire spitting sparks out at the world, burning fiercely, holding back the dark by sheer will. And I always knew that if I reached out – if I tried to touch you – I'd get burned again. Because you're not mine. I'm not supposed to feel this type of fire. I'm not supposed to want it. But I do. I want you, like I've never wanted anything. I want the heat, and the light, and I want the burn that comes with it for the first time in my life."

The candles had long since burned out, the wick gone cold, the slight scent of smoke dissipated, and the wax hardened to the tabletop. He paid no attention, too lost in her to notice anything else.


	14. Dynamic

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 152_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies…  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XIV  
****Dynamic****  
~ Katara ~**

_I love you_, she thought, looking at him. _I love every part of you, every thought and word...the entire complex, fascinating bundle of all the things you are. I want you with ten different kinds of need at once. I love all the seasons of you, the way you are now, the thought of how much more beautiful you'll be in the decades to come. I love you for being the answer to every question my heart could ask. We fit together. Yin and Yang._

Blue and tangerine flames curled around each other as they escaped into the sky, and she lost herself to their fervour. Ruby and blue liquid twisted up into the air, floating in the sky, and she lost herself to their meaning. When flame and water met, it created a dynamic that the world had never seen, and she lost herself to him.


	15. Treasure

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 110_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XV  
****Treasure****  
~ Zuko ~**

It was an absolute human certainty that no one could know his or her own beauty, nor perceive a sense of his or her own worth until it had been reflected back to them in the mirror of another loving, caring human being.

And he knew that at that moment, they understood each other perfectly, and when he told her what he was going to do now, she would not say 'be careful' or 'don't do it', but she would accept his decision because she would not have expected anything less of him. It was a treasure like no other. And it was his and his alone.


	16. Switch

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 199_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies… Not entirely sure about this one, but we'll see how it goes! I'm now, officially ALL CAUGHT UP! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAY! Excitement abounds!  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XVI  
****Switch****  
~ Katara ~**

"Why do you go away?" he asked passionately. "So that you can come back. To me. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colours. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving."

"No, we can't. It's wrong! What if –"

"What if? _What if_, maybe, the wrong way is the right way? _What if_ you can take the wrong path and it still comes out where you want to? Sometimes you can do everything wrong and it still turns out to be right. And this isn't wrong for us. It may be wrong for Aang and whatever fiancé the Fire Nation nobility have picked out for me, but who cares? Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like. Let our love just be, and let it turn out however it wants."

It was a strange switch of roles – her worrying over the people and him not caring what anyone else had to say.


	17. Vague

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 192_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch. Day 17: Vague  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies… Just when I get caught up, FanFiction has problems and won't let me upload! Gah!  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XVII  
Vague  
~ Zuko ~**

Ends were not bad things, they just meant that something else was about to begin. And there were many things that didn't really end, anyway, because they just began again in a new way. Ends were not bad and many ends weren't really an ending; some things were never-ending.

He had no idea when it had ended for him. One minute he had watched her one way, then the next he was suddenly seeing her in a completely new and terrifying way, and his old feelings had ended.

Love was a force more formidable than any other, he decided as she froze the air and faced her demons. It was invisible - it could not be seen or measured, yet it was powerful enough to transform a person in a moment, and offer them more joy than any material possession could.

He wasn't exactly sure when it happened. Or even when it started. It was all too vague, too cloaked in shadows and illusions. All he knew for sure was that right there and then, he was falling hard and he could only pray that she was feeling the same way.


	18. Pieces

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 100_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch. Day 17: Vague. Day 18: Pieces  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies… I'm pretty positive that this is my favourite so far...  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XVIII  
****Pieces****  
~ Katara ~**

How could she describe his face, the pieces of him that stuck to her heart? Zuko sometimes looked aloof and distant; sometimes his face was open and as soft as a bruise. Sometimes he looked completely at her, as if he were the point on which all the universe revolved, as if he were the biggest mystery of life, or as if he were a flame and she couldn't_ not_ look even though she was scared. And sometimes it would all disappear into carelessness, confidence, amusement, as if he didn't need anyone or anything on this earth to feel alive.


	19. Shiver

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 230_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch. Day 17: Vague. Day 18: Pieces. Day 19: Shiver  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies… updated on time! Go me! Next chapter will be one thousand words long! Stay tuned!  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XIX  
****Shiver****  
~ Zuko ~**

Overwhelmed, he pressed closer, determined that he wouldn't just be kissed; he didn't do passivity and he wasn't about to start now, in a closet. It was a surprisingly gentle brush of lips but the slow, sweet ache spreading out from the base of his spine was enough to draw a soft moan.

Her tongue collided hotly with his. She tasted bitter like chocolate and lemon filler; firm, moist and addictive where they fitted together.

He tangled his fingers in her hair and deepened the kiss, but it was nowhere near enough. Crouching on a box-strewn closet floor was not conducive to the kind of contact that he wanted, needed, and as he desperately kissed his one-time worst enemy, he was amazed that there was enough blood in his body to keep his heart beating hard enough that it feels like it might stop.

As the kiss turned messy and breathless, her hand curled around his forearm, long nails digging into the tender flesh, painful and exhilarating. Outside the door, the muffled sound of voices filters into his consciousness and it's with a cold jolt that he registered exactly where he was, what he was doing and who he was doing it with. She shivered against him and pressed closer, and he realised with a victorious start that she wanted this just as much as he did.

* * *

**Authors Note: **I want to say thank you to everyone who is reading the story! I have checked up on the Traffic Stats and I'm blown away. It seems a lot of you have read The Choices They Made! I would love to hear your thoughts regarding TCTM, just so I know that I'm entertaining you or bringing you the Zutarian goodness you want!

Read & Review  
- EIS


	20. Ripples

**Zutara ****Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds**  
****Rating:** T**  
****Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama**  
****Pairings:** Zutara**  
****Words:** 1000**_  
_****Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch. Day 17: Vague. Day 18: Pieces. Day 19: Shiver. Day 20: Ripples**  
****Authors Note:** Hello lovelies… so... I LOST INTERNET! I LOST TEH INTERNET! It vanished on me, and I've only gotten it back, and now I have to post the last EIGHT ZUTARA MONTH PROMPTS in ONE GO! I'm not happy.**  
****Disclaimer: **_Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XX  
****Ripples****  
~ Katara ~**

_A Fire Nation Sage once said: __When you drop any new idea in the pond of the world, you get a ripple effect. You have to be aware that you will be creating a cascade of change._

Katara has always known that life isn't easy.

Katara doesn't know the Fire Nation palace. The halls are buzzing with activity, servants and nobles and Tui only knows who else scurrying through them with harried looks on their faces. They don't give her a second glance, too caught up in their own problems. Eventually she finds a small, abandoned courtyard with a little fountain. It is in a nearly empty wing of the palace. She quickly walks to the door, closing it and locking it. She repeats that with all the entrances and exits. Mostly out of paranoia (…_she shouldn't feel paranoid; nothing is wrong…)_ she creates ice walls that blockade all possible entrances into the room. She slides down the side of the fountain, mercifully smooth beneath her back, and then allows herself to cry and rage and let her emotions win out over her head for the first time in years.

* * *

"…_**right Republic City! Avatar Aang and Katara of the Southern Water Tribe are to be married this upcoming summer. Can anyone else feel a long winter coming…"**_

* * *

The first thing she does is let the ocean lap at her feet. She immediately feels empowered, like nothing else in the world can overcome her in this moment. She breathes in the scent of salty air and lets the sea breeze whip her hair around her face. She rubs her palm over her arm and then her neck. Her skin is already lightly coated with salt and grime, but she couldn't care less. For the first time in ages she feels as if she is at home.

Eventually the moon rises over the ocean and Katara turns her back on the sea and makes her way into the little village.

The marketplace is busy and filled with villagers, all enjoying the nightlife. Katara has no idea where to go first, nor does she know where the nearest inn is. She steps up to a florist stand, where there is an elderly woman putting away her beautifully coloured flowers for the night.

"Excuse me," Katara says politely. "I was wondering if there was an inn nearby or a place where I could stay for the night."

The old woman pauses in her work and looks up at Katara curiously. Her skin is dark and she has light eyes. Katara feels a sudden pang of longing for her Gran-Gran.

"How long are you planning to stay in this town, sweetie?"

Katara shrugs one shoulder. "Just for the tonight, I guess. I don't really have any concrete plans—"

The old woman hushes her. "You'll stay with me. I'll put you to work in the morning!" She sounds gleeful as she puts away the last of her flowers.

"Are you sure? I don't mind staying—"

"Quit your jabbering and follow me, sweetie." The woman puts a 'closed' sign on the countertop of her stand and then walks around to Katara.

Katara knows better than to argue with an old woman. She follows her down the bustling marketplace and eventually out onto a battered road that's covered with sand.

"Thank you for letting me stay," Katara says, trying to break the silence.

The old woman waves her hand. "Don't be thanking me just yet, sweetie. You haven't done any work!"

Katara smiles to herself. Soon she and the woman crest over a hill where there's a small cottage by the sea. It's lit up by the moon.

When they reach the front door, Katara can barely speak because she is in so much awe of the simple beauty of this place. By the way the old woman's eyes twinkle, she seems to completely understand. "You look tired, sweetie. Come inside. My name is Mia."

"… Kya."

One night turns into two nights, two nights turn into three nights, and the next thing Katara knows she's been staying with Mia for over a month.

* * *

"…_**Republic City News at dusk. Three months after the engagement of the millennia was announced to the public, Katara of the Southern Water Tribe is still missing.…"**_

* * *

Katara hands the boy his flower and he places a couple of coins into her palm. The kid looks nervous; his face is sweaty and his breathing is erratic.

Katara gives him what she hopes is a supporting smile. "Just make sure to be yourself."

The boy stares at her for a long moment, gulps, and marches over to the girl serving tea at the nearby tea stand.

"Will you be mine?" he asks.

"I… I can't…"

"It doesn't matter that my mother wants me to marry someone else, and that your father hates mine. I'm in love with you. That's enough."

Katara stands up and realises life is actually just that simple.

* * *

"…_**breaking news. Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, after disappearing for five months, has ended her engagement to Avatar Aang.…"**_

* * *

"I am asking you to marry me because I love you," he said, "because I cannot imagine living my life without you. I want to see your face in the morning, and then at night, and a hundred times in between. I want to grow old with you, I want to laugh with you, and I want to sigh to my friends about how managing you are, all the while secretly knowing I am the luckiest man in town."

* * *

"…_**Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Katara of the Southern Water Tribe will today present their daughter, Princess Kya…"**_

* * *

Their romance, considering their circumstances, should have been the stuff of Earth Kingdom bedtime stories. He was a prince and she was a peasant and clearly they should not have fallen in love. Their story, however, was not a fairy-tale: they fell in love in a war and battled the world to keep it.


	21. Disaster

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 186_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch. Day 17: Vague. Day 18: Pieces. Day 19: Shiver. Day 20: Ripples. Day 21: Disaster  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies…  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XXI  
****Disaster****  
~ Zuko ~**

The only thing worse than a girl who hates you; a girl who loves you in return, but who you can never have.

She didn't understand and he hoped to Agni that she never understood what he did, what he had to do, what he was. To be dammed by the darkness that lived inside him. To be saved by her love. She could never know, but she had to know, because it was in her smile, in her eyes, the way she looked at him and saw him, not the scar or the boy or the Fire Lord. Telling her the truth might cause a few seconds of pain, but there was no medicine that could manage the pain of keeping lies.

No more half-truths. No more omissions.

And he had to wonder how strange it was that disaster – the sort of disaster that took the air out of your lungs, stopped your heart in a second, and hit you again and again and again – could be, at times, such a thing of beauty. But then again, Love was always like that.


	22. Sea

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 251_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch. Day 17: Vague. Day 18: Pieces. Day 19: Shiver. Day 20: Ripples. Day 21: Disaster. Day 22: Sea  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies…  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XXII  
****Sea****  
~ Katara ~**

She had never hated the water more than when she realised there would always be a sea separating her from the man she loved more than life itself.

There was a magic about the sea. People were drawn to it. People wanted to love by it, swim in it, play in it, look at it. It was a living thing as unpredictable as a great stage actor: it could be calm and welcoming, opening its arms to embrace its audience one moment, but then could explode with its stormy tempers, flinging people around, wanting them out, attacking coastlines, breaking down islands. It had a playful side too, as it enjoyed the crowd, tossed the children about, knocked lilos over, tipped over boats, occasionally gave sailors helping hands.

Time was an ocean, she had learned. Always moving. But for people like her, people who had loved and lost, the ocean was something to fight. To swim against the current, trying to get back to the way things once were, trying to hold onto anything to keep from getting swept away. It's exhausting and, eventually, tiring.

That was also why she hated the ocean, even at the same time as she loved it; loved the serene brutality of the ocean, loved the electric power she felt with each breath of wet, briny air. Because it kept him away from her, and she away from him, and made fools of them all with its seductive beauty and fathomless promises.


	23. Reconciliation

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 226_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch. Day 17: Vague. Day 18: Pieces. Day 19: Shiver. Day 20: Ripples. Day 21: Disaster. Day 22: Sea. Day 23: Reconciliation.  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XXIII  
****Reconciliation****  
~ Zuko ~**

He wanted a perfect ending. Now he has learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life was about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what was going to happen next.

Delicious Ambiguity, maybe.

Time was too slow for those who waited, too swift for those who feared, too long for those who grieved, too short for those who rejoiced, but for those who loved, time is eternity.

They had fought in the past (Agni, had they fought – the Pirates, the North Pole, the caverns of Ba Sing Se) but nothing, not one word or attack or action before, had pierced his heart as brutally, had ripped his soul so painfully.

But if there was to be reconciliation, first there had to be truth, so he had let her go, watched her walk away with his heart, and hoped that he wouldn't suffer again.

When – after three years away searching the world for her answers – she had returned, appearing like mist in his personal rooms, tall and proud and majestically, wildly beautiful, and she had offered her hand and three simple words, he had accepted without pause, without thought, because this was Katara and she had made her decision.

And he had finally won.


	24. Blaze

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 196_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch. Day 17: Vague. Day 18: Pieces. Day 19: Shiver. Day 20: Ripples. Day 21: Disaster. Day 22: Sea. Day 23: Reconciliation. Day 24: Blaze  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XXIV  
****Blaze****  
~Katara~**

_"There is something of yours I would like to return to you."_

_"What?"_

_He leaned across the distance between them and caught her mouth with his own. Her eyes fluttered closed and her lips parted easily as she felt the kiss sizzling through her nerves, rendering her thoughts to smoke._

_"Why does that… belong to me?"_

_"That was the kiss I stole from you."_

_"What if I didn't want it?"_

_"You don't?"_

_"No. So I would like you to take it back again, please."_

_"I am your servant," the Fire Lord smirked, "consider it done."_

Now very much against her will, she thought of the way Zuko had looked at her then, the blaze of faith in his eyes, his belief in her. He had always thought she was strong. He had showed it in everything he did, in every look and every touch. Sokka had faith in her too, yet when he'd held her; it had been as if she were something fragile, something made of delicate glass. But Zuko had held her with all the strength he had, never wondering if she could take it – he'd known she was as strong has he was.

.


	25. Shower

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 221_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch. Day 17: Vague. Day 18: Pieces. Day 19: Shiver. Day 20: Ripples. Day 21: Disaster. Day 22: Sea. Day 23: Reconciliation. Day 24: Blaze. Day 25: Shower  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies….  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XXV  
****Shower****  
~Zuko~**

The stars were beautiful, burning worlds both grand and small. The stars were like universes within and without, flowering from tiny seeds to supernovas bursting on the brink of destruction. They illuminated the heavens – _dark and light, smooth and scarred, soft and hard_ – falling from the sky, trailing light in their wake, while on the earth, he lay with his hand tangled with hers as they stared up at the falling stars.

"_Girls like her_," his cousin had once warned him, "_girls like her turn into women with eyes like bullet holes and mouths made of knives. They are always restless. They are always hungry. They are bad news. They will drink you down like a shot of whisky. Falling in love with them is like falling down a flight of stairs." _What no one told him, along with all those warnings, was that even after you had fallen, even after you knew how painful it was, you would still get in line to do it again.

She wears trouble like a crown. If she ever falls in love, she'll fall like a comet, burning the sky as she goes. And he should know, because against the world and the people in it, and the Spirits above and below it, she had fallen in love with him and him with her.


	26. Flash

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 248_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch. Day 17: Vague. Day 18: Pieces. Day 19: Shiver. Day 20: Ripples. Day 21: Disaster. Day 22: Sea. Day 23: Reconciliation. Day 24: Blaze. Day 25: Shower. Day 26: Flash  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies… nearly done, chickens  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XXVI  
****Flash****  
~Katara~**

Everyone grieved differently. No one handled the loss of a loved one the same. Some put on a brave face for others, keeping everything internal. Others let it all out at once and shattered, only to pick up the pieces just as quickly as they came apart. Still others didn't grieve at all, implying they were incapable of emotion.

Then there are the ones like her, where grief was a badge to wear, where it was hard to let go because she didn't want to let go. She probably wouldn't know how even if she wanted to. There were always unanswered questions, unresolved feelings. There was anger, because that person had left her behind.

Those like her were the furious ones, the ones that screamed at the injustice and the pain. They were the ones who obsessed and slowly lost rational thought, knowing it was happening but unable to find a way to care. They were the ones who drowned.

But unlike them, she had him, and she could swim.

The fireworks were beautiful. They were red, blue, purple, pink, green and any colour that can be named in a rainbow, celebrating the life of the people who had left. They came and went, illuminating the dark winter's night in flashes that left far too quickly, just like the lives that had been lost. But it was in the dark between the flashes that she felt his hand creep around her own, and his lips press against hers.


	27. Electric

**Zutara Month****  
****Title: Zutara Month**  
**Author:** Eternity in Seconds  
**Rating:** T  
**Category:** Angst/Romance/Drama  
**Pairings:** Zutara  
**Words:** 300_  
_**Summary: **A love like theirs would have a story for the ages... A series of twenty-eight Zutara drabbles, to each of the prompts from Zutara Month. Day 1: Hidden. Day 2: Sleep. Day 3: Confessions. Day 4: Garden. Day 5: Sadness. Day 6: Quiet. Day 7: Melt. Day 8: Storm. Day 9: Fight. Day 10: Legend. Day 11: Touch. Day 12: Frozen. Day 13: Candles. Day 14: Dynamic. Day 15: Treasure. Day 16: Switch. Day 17: Vague. Day 18: Pieces. Day 19: Shiver. Day 20: Ripples. Day 21: Disaster. Day 22: Sea. Day 23: Reconciliation. Day 24: Blaze. Day 25: Shower. Day 26: Flash. Day 27: Electric  
**Authors Note:** Hello lovelies… there is only one more... I hope I don't disappoint. These last few have been my favourites. I would love to hear what you're favourites are! Drop a REVIEW and let me know!  
**Disclaimer:** _Michael Dante DiMartino_ and _Bryan Konietzko_ own everything. I may own the story herein this FanFiction and I may own some of the Original Characters, but the original idea belongs to them. I make no money off the words within and never will.

* * *

**XXVII  
****Electric****  
~Zuko~**

But now he wondered – what if everyone was the same and it was just a thousand small choices that added up to the person someone became? No good or evil, no black and white, no inner demons or brilliant Spirits whispering the right answers in the ears of the mortals like it was some cosmic school exam. Just them, hour by hour, minute by minute, day by day, making the best choices they could.

The thought was horrifying, terrifying. If that was true, then there was no right choice. There was only choice.

He felt it in his bones, creeping along his skin, a delirium of fierce satisfaction and blinding righteousness that came when his eyes met hers after he took the lightning for her. But it wasn't his sister's electricity. It was the electric feel of her hand against his scarred cheek, her tears against his lips, and the knowledge that they now had a chance.

He had made the right choice out of thousands of smaller wrong choices, and now she would complete him like no one else in the world would ever be able to.

Someone once told him that nameless things changed constantly – that names fixed them in place like pins. But without a name, a thing wasn't quite real either. So when he finally whispered the words to her, giving name to the thing inside him that had grown and grown and grown the longer she had looked at him – smiled, laughed, cried, hated, fought, helped – and stayed with him. She had whispered back the same, and the thing became real, and he finally admitted that this was the best choice he had ever made.

Fighting his sister and taking her electricity away from Katara – saving her, and loving her, and staying with her. Always.


End file.
